Natasha and I were already Roller Derby fans to begin with, so the movie “Whip It” was an easy sell. We haven’t been watching a lot of movies this summer, but with the crazy heat last week we found an excuse to hide out in the basement and get caught up on our movie pile.

Ellen Page might be a vampire. IMDB says she’s 23, but she seems to be the go-to girl in Hollywood for hipster high-school girls because she doesn’t appear to be ageing. Eerie.

The movie was entertaining but actually didn’t have as much actual roller-derbying as I’d expected – most of the drama occurs at beauty pageants, wild parties, food-fights and Bliss’ parent’s suburban living room. There’s lots of teenage angst and “I need to get out of this small town” blah blah blah – which Bliss and her team “The Hurl Scouts” thankfully seem to deal with by handing out hip checks on the arena floor.

The derby parts that do make it into the film are fun and funny. True to roller-derby spirit the team names are all completely hilarious. The filmwork in the arena sequences is great and drops you right into the action. Kudos to the photography team who must have been wheeling around crates full of lights and cameras on rollerskates while dodging flying elbows.

The soundtrack is the bonus highlight of the film – there’s a heap of terrific music in this movie that’s going to get stuck in your brain. I’ve been humming MGMT’s “Kids” for three days now. ( I may have to invest in some black and white facepaint)

Worth checking out!